south africa

Firemen battle a blaze in Noordhoek Manor old age home in Cape Town, South Africa. A fire fanned by gale force south easterly winds has raged across the south peninsula of Cape Town from Muizenberg to Hout Bay.

South African residents of Masiphumelele assist firemen to extinguish a blaze that devastated parts of the informal shack settlement in Cape Town. Several shacks were destroyed in the fire which quickly spread in the overpopulated and dense shack settlement.

At the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was sentenced on Tuesday to a maximum five-year term in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013.

Oscar Pistorius leaves on bail from the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa. South African Judge Thokosile Masipa ruled out murder charges yesterday, but convicted Oscar Pistorius in court today of culpable homicide, as the six month trial of the Olympic double-amputee sprinter comes to an end. His defence maintained that Mr Pistorius mistook Ms Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder in his home when he fired several shots into his bathroom allegedly in self-defence but killing his girlfriend. Sentencing for Pistorius will be on October 13.

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius reacts as he listens to Judge Thokozile Masipa’s judgement at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. A South African judge cleared Oscar Pistorius of all murder charges on Thursday and will await the verdict on culpable homicide

A striking worker wears a tyre around his neck as thousands of workers clad in red demonstrate on the first day of a nationwide strike called by South Africa’s National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) in Johannesburg Central Business District

Members of the African National Congress Youth League, and supporters of the South African president Jacob Zuma, demonstrate outside the Weekly Mail and Guardian media offices, on Thursday, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The demonstrators were protesting against the election coverage by these media groups.

Supporters of the South African opposition party Democratic Alliance gather in Mamelodi during an election rally on Monday. This year’s anniversary of democracy coincides with South Africa’s fifth democratic election on May 7, when voters will cast their ballots in a fiercely fought contest

Supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters rally and sing songs outside Pretoria High Court 4 in Pretoria, South Africa. The EFF are saying that the R600,000 ($56,000) deposit required when submitting candidates’ names for the upcoming national elections are unjust and are seeking a ruling in court against it.

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend, sits with his head in his hand after arriving at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, for the second day of his trial

Protesters dance at a crossroad in Hebron, near Pretoria, on Friday during a protest for basic government services. South African police fired stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets on Thursday to disperse thousands of rioters demanding basic government services in communities near Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Miners gather to mourn their colleagues at Harmony Gold’s Doornkop mine near Johannesburg, South Africa. Rescuers recovered eight bodies and continued to search for another missing worker after a fire that began on Tuesday, the worst accident in South Africa’s mines in nearly five years.

Tens of thousands of workers at the world’s three top platinum producers downed tools on Thursday in South Africa in a pay strike that could have a devastating impact on Africa’s largest economy. Here, protesters gather near Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana.